The Crucible
Lesson Plans

Resume Lesson Plan
In this lesson plan students make a resume for a character in the play.

Propaganda Lesson Plan
In this lesson students alalyse the use of propaganda in the story and the world around them.

Research Lesson plan
In this project students are asked to research characters in the play. They are asked to use the resources given to them to write and present a monologue about the character's background.

Compare lesson plan
In this lesson plan students use an anticipation guide to help them think about the theme of the book or movie. After this they compare these themes to other historical events that happened in United States History. They research this and present their findings. They then use the book to find specific quotes on the themes they have determined. Next they analyse how each character affected a specific situation.

Multi-Media Lesson Plan
This lesson plan allows students to view painting, listen to historical websites, and view maps of the area to help students get a better understanding of why the witch trials occurred.

Activities

Themes, activities and assignments
This website gives ideas for themes that could be discussed in class. It also presents ideas for some activities that could be done and assignments that teachers could distribute to students.

Three activities
This website offers three ideas for activities students can do. Many of these include internet research where students take online tours of Salem. Another activity includes researching McCarthyism and reporting on the connections between Salem and then.

Mass Hysteria Project
In this project students work on using The Crucible along with online resources to compare the events of the Salem witch trials to events like McCarthyism and Japanese internment camps.

Historical Accuracy Project
In this project students work on researching the actual events of the Salem witch trials and compare them to the Arthur Miller's interpretation in the play.

comparing McCarthy to Salem
In this link students use web research to compare McCarthy times to the Salem Witch Trials. Students create graphs and charts and present their findings to the class after they have finished.


Resources

Historical errors of the play and movie
This link tells some of the differences between the play and the actual historical event. This website can be used to help teachers to clear up confusion if they ask students to research the trials further.

Useful Websites
This is a list of websites about the history of Salem, Chronology of events, virtual tours and other useful websites. These websites could be used in class to help student visualize the events that took place.

The Crucible Movie- IMDB
This is a little information about the Crucible movie that came out in 1996. The movie has high reviews and is used in classrooms often to assist with the reading of the play.

Investigation into Salem
This is a link to a investigation that determined that Wood grain fungus may have caused the symptoms that were then described as witch craft. This could be used in classrooms along with historical background to help explain why this happened.

Video on Salem Witch trials
This is a video about the Salem Witch trials. It gives students a better understanding of the events while incorporating pictures that give students a visual example of the time period.


Study and Anticipation guides

Anticipation and reaction guide
This is an anticipation guide that will help students to think about the themes of the story a little bit better. It asks students to think about these themes before reading the book and then after.

Study guide
This is a link to a study guide that would help students analyse the characters and the plot more closely.


Other



Political Cartoons
This link contains political cartoons about McCarthyism that lend well to The Crucible


Experience a witch trial
This is a link to an internet site where students experience being accused of being a witch and the trials that were given at that time. They eventually get to decide if they will confess or tell the truth and the consequences that come about from there.

Unit Plans

Crucible and Scarlet Letter Unit plan
This is a unit plan that incorporates the The Crucible and The Scarlet Letter and uses them to teach about the American Dream and it's sometimes alienating effect.